


Acts of Bravery

by mirroredsakura



Category: Ouran High School Host Club - All Media Types
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-18
Updated: 2015-07-18
Packaged: 2018-04-09 23:27:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 532
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4368410
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mirroredsakura/pseuds/mirroredsakura
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tamaki tries his hand at making dessert. The world trembles. Winner of LJ ouran_contest Challenge: #6, Food.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Acts of Bravery

Haruhi stared at the thing on her plate.  
  
The strange glutinous mass stared back. With hearts for eyes. Bright red ones. She didn’t even want to contemplate the steadily-dripping splotch that was probably supposed to have been a pair of puckered lips.  
  
“…Tamaki-sempai… what is this?”  
  
The blond looked utterly crestfallen, and as she watched, the tears began to pool beatifically at the corners of his eyes. “You… you don’t like it? Haruhi???”  
  
She eyed the other Host Club members dubiously. They didn’t look back, as they all seemed rather preoccupied staring at their own dishes of bizarrely-decorated… well, whatever it was. “I might tell you more if you’d tell me what it’s supposed to be…” she poked at cautiously with a fingertip. It wriggled at her.  
  
“It’s a pudding!” Tamaki declared, smiling brilliantly, dancing from one foot in the other in his glee. “I made it myself!”  
  
The twins stared at him with identical expressions of absolute horror. Honey-sempai started to cry. She was certain she saw Mori-sempai shiver as he patted Honey-sempai on the head. Kyouya-sempai’s glasses reflected entirely too much light to see his _expression, but she was sure she saw his lips tightening as he stared at his own wriggling lump.  
  
She turned back to staring at it. Its ‘mouth’ had dribbled down completely onto the plate, and it looked rather sad and melancholy-looking (or as sad as a pudding can look with hearts for eyes) as its eyes slowly began to follow its mouth and dribble down one lumpy side.  
  
Tamaki was watching her with those  _eyes_  again. The ones that were way too shiny for comfort. Hopeful eyes.  
  
With a deep breath, she picked up her fork. The others were watching now, and the twins were wearing identical looks of awe for even attempting such a thing. She speared a piece off the side. It jiggled. She tried to ignore it and put it in her mouth.  
  
Nothing; a hint of something sweet. Not that bad, considering Tamaki had only recently been asking her which end of a kettle you were supposed to plug in.  
  
He was beaming with pride. “SEE?!” he declared triumphantly to the others. “HARUHI LIKES IT!!!”  
  
And then…  
  
Oh god, fire, fire, burning, water, need water, so much water, tea, tea will do,  _need tea!_  
  
Even as she jerked the teacup off the table and drank it down in gulps, then quickly snatched up the teapot and began mechanically refilling her teacup (she was a gentleman and a host and would not simply upend the entire teapot into the burning cesspit of her mouth), she saw the quick scramble as the others disposed of their own puddings in... unusual ways. Haruhi would have to remind Hikaru later that goldfish do  _not_ eat indigestible lumps of cayenne-pepper pudding--provided she still had a tongue left by then. Oh the burning!!

“Well? Well???” Tamaki had been staring hopefully at her all this time, blind to the fact that flames were spurting out of her mouth.

“Fine,” she rasped hoarsely, “Just fine.”  
  
The others echoed her in tones of bright agreement and congratulations.  
  
…Sometimes it was enough just to make their King smile like that.

**Author's Note:**

> Sometimes it feels like fic-inspiration only comes during the most inopportune moments - in this case, school. Written nearly 10 years ago now in 2006.


End file.
